From the time John Vuong made the choice to leave his native Vietnam in 1978, he has endeavored to honor his family and community through hard work. John arrived in the United States at age 17 without the benefit of family, education or any knowledge of the English language. With support from the community, John journeyed to Utah where he earned his Associate’s Degree and began his career at a firm that designed and manufactured semiconductors. Fortuitously, John left Utah in 1985 and returned to Houston where he worked as a commercial fisherman and, most importantly, met his wife and best friend, Kheo.
In 1994, John and Kheo combined their entire savings with loans from their family to purchase their first grocery store, a 7,500 square foot Bi-Rite on Freeport in east Houston.
The Vuong’s worked from 6 o’clock each morning until past midnight each evening to insure their first store’s success. Within two years of acquiring the store, the Vuong’s were able to recover their initial investment and payoff the loans received from their family.
With the unwavering support of their wholesale supplier, Houston-based The Grocers Supply Co., Inc., the Vuong’s have grown their business by purchasing ten additional stores that serve Houston’s low to moderate income families. Seven of these stores were purchased by John with and for his family members—many of whom were the initial investors in 1994 and, but for the Vuong’s investment of their time, talent and funds, many of these stores would likely have closed. These stores operate under the names Bi-Rite, Food-Rite, Jensen Supermarket, Jim’s Super, Middleton’s, Pay Less, Sing-On and their signature stores, Pyburn’s. Nine of the stores are in Houston, the other two are located in Anahuac and Texas City.